Lingerie dryer



Jan. 23, 1962 w. J. BINKLEY ETAL 3,018,026

LINGERIE DRYER Filed Sept. 29, 1959 William J. B/h/r/ey Clifford 7. B/h/r/ey Ralph M Packer INVENTOFS Patented Jan. .23, 1962 LINGERIE DRYER Wiliiarn J. Brinkley, Minneapolis, Minn. (121 E. Del Rio Drive, Tempe, Ariz.); Ciitford 'Ir. Brinkley, 3758 Lyndale N., Minneapolis, Mind; and Ralph V. Packer, Robbinsdaie, liiillfih; said Packer assignor to said William J.

Brinkley and said Cliiford T. Binlriey Filed Sept. 29, 1959. Ser. No. 843,180 4 Claims. (Cl. 22391) This invention relates to a support hanger and more particularly to a support for lingerie or other lightweight objects.

An object of the invention is to provide a practical, light and economical support hanger for lingerie and other analogous objects whereby the lingerie or the like may be suspended in a convenient place, e.g a shower curtain rod, to dry.

Briefly, the support is in the nature of a coat hanger but has a plurality of clamps along the lower edge thereof by which to support the lingerie at numerous closely spaced places so that during the drying procedure, the lingerie is firmly, securely and definitely supported and so that there will not be a concentration of weight at one or two places as is the case when the lingerie is supported only at one or two places.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the support hanger showing it in use; and

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of FIGURE 1.

In the accompanying drawing there is shown a shower curtain rod shown by way of illustrating a possible structure on which the support hanger 12 may be hung. Garment 14 is shown fragmentarily and in dotted lines merely to indicate how the support 12 is to be used.

Support 12 is a lingerie dryer although objects other than lingerie may be hung therefrom. It is constructed of a flat plastic body 16 with a reinforcing bead 18 at its peripheral edge. The body has a straight lower edge 22, an arcuate upper edge 24, and rounded cars 26 and 28 formed as continuations of the upper edge 24 and forming the side edges of the body.

There is a grommet 30 surrounding aperture 32 at the center of gravity of the body 16 in order to receive a shower curtain spring clamp 38. Clamp 38 is conventional and is of the type of clamp ordinarily used for suspending shower curtains on a shower curtain rod.

Bead 18 not only reinforces the lower edge of body 16 but also constitutes a fulcrum about which clamps 40 operate. The clamps are identical in construction, it being noted that the illustrated support hanger 12 has five clamps. This is a suggested number of clamps, although it may be increased or decreased. It is preferred that there be a copious number of clamps so that garments of different widths may be effectively hung, for instance, by using two or three clamps, and further, so that wider garments can be supported in a number of places along the supporting edge thereof,

Typical clamp 40 (FIG. 2) is made of two arms 42 and 44, having lower jaw forming parts 46 and 48, respectively, and which are held normally closed by means of a single leaf spring or a rod curved in cross-section forming a spring 50. There are inwardly directed jaw face forming members 52 and 54 at the lower extremities of parts 46 and 48, and the garment is adapted to be gripped in between these members. The upper parts 56 and 58 of spring loaded arms 42 and 44 are angled outwardly with reference to each other, and the arms have approximately semi-circular bearings 60 and 62, respectively, therein at the juncture of the two parts of each arm. The bearings engage bead 18 which forms a. pivot about which bearings 60 and 62 are operable.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the spring is formed almost as a closed loop and extends through apertures 66, 70 and 68 formed in the upper parts 56 and 58 of the arms and in the body 16, respectively. Short pad-forming ends 72 and 74 of spring 50 bear against the outer surfaces of parts 46 and 48 of the two arms 42 and 44, and it is by virtue of this that the spring force is transmitted to the lower parts of both arms, holding the jaw-forming members 52 and 54 normally closed.

The operation of the invention has been briefly discussed, and is believed quite evident. A person desiring to hang a garment or any other object merely places support hanger 12 on the shower curtain rod 18 or some suitable support structure. The object 14, for instance, is clipped by means of the clamps 48 to the body of the support 12 thereby suspending the object so that it may dry.

Due to the configuration of body 16, the ears 26 and 28 cooperate with the curved upper edge of the body to form upwardly opening pockets 78 and 88 within which shoulder straps of a slip or the like may be placed. Further, the body itself may be used as a coat hanger.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A support adapted to function as a dryer, said support comprising a fiat plate-like body having a bead along the lower edge thereof and an aperture therethrough intermidate the ends thereof, means extending through said aperture by which to support the body on a supporting structure, and a plurality of clamps engaged with said bead and spaced longitudinally thereof and adapted to grip an object to hold the object fastened to said body, said body being provided with openings above said bead, one for each clamp, each clamp including a pair of arms having upper and lower parts, the lower parts constituting jaw forming parts, the upper parts extending upwardly and outwardly from said body, and resilient means for each clamp extending through the associated opening in said body and engaging the lower parts of the clamp arms for maintaining the lower parts in a closed position, said arms having bearing surfaces intermediate the upper and lower ends thereof, said head being engaged between said bearing surfaces and said bearing surfaces being held by said resilient means in engagement with said head.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said resilient means comprises a single curved spring extending through openings in said arms and having ends in contact with said lower parts of said arms.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said body is made of flat plastic and has an upper edge together with ears protruding upwardly and outwardly from said upper edge in order to form upwardly opening pockets within which to accommodate parts of garments.

4. In a drying rack, the combination of a fiat plate-like body adapted to be suspended from a support, a bead provided at the lower edge of said body, and an article clamp comprising a pair of arms disposed at opposite sides of said body and provided intermediate their ends with transverse grooves receiving said bead, lower end portions of said arms below said grooves constituting a pair of jaws, upper end portions of the arms above the grooves extending laterally outwardly from said body when said jaws are closed whereby the jaws may be opened by pressing the upper end portions of the arms toward the body to rock the arms about said bead in said grooves, the upper end portions of the arms and a portion of said body therebetween being provided with openings, and a clamping spring extending through said openings and hav- L1 ing its ends in engagement with the lower end portions of the arms for urging said jaws to a closed position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,991,987 Smith Feb. 19, 1935 2,408,344 Scurrah Sept. 24, 1946 2,546,717 Beetlestone et a1 Mar. 27, 1951 10 2,666,240 Maccaferri Jan. 19, 1954 2,889,092 Gibron June 2, 1959 

